Ben Gottlieb cannot sing.
Every time he tries, he chokes up. It’s only indicative of the depressive stupor he’s found himself in since his wife passed away a year prior. And it’s particularly humiliating, since he’s the cantor at Temple Sinai.
It’s caused something of an identity crisis within the Jewish man: Who ever heard of a cantor who can’t lead congregants in song? Ben starts searching for meaning anywhere he can—the local Roman Catholic church, for instance, or the bottom of a glass. He stares at the pages of more prominent Ben Gottliebs who appear in Google searches before he does.
“Even my name is in the past tense,” Ben laments.
But, speaking of the past, that’s when he bumps into Carla, his old music teacher from when he was in grade school. And when she hears that he teaches the B’Nai Mitzvah orientation classes at Temple Sinai, she begs him to let her have her own Bat Mitzvah.
Initially, Ben isn’t really interested in helping her out (a symptom of his brooding malaise). But Rabbi Bruce doesn’t see why Carla shouldn’t be able to have one, so Ben reluctantly agrees to help her begin her 13-month process to learn the Hebrew and explain her section of the Torah.
And as he does, Ben begins to feel a little happier—like his life may have a little more purpose.
Sometimes, it even makes him feel like singing.
As Carla taught Ben music, now Ben teaches Carla Hebrew. However, the two learn more from each other, too: Having both lost their respective spouses, they help to pull each other out of their depressive slumps and give each other’s lives meaning again. In that regard, the film showcases just how much an encouraging word and helping hand can be to someone in need.
Ben’s biological mother comforts him in the midst of his depression. She longs to help him feel genuinely happy, but she admits that she doesn’t always know how to do it.
Someone drives an intoxicated man safely home.
As mentioned, Ben is the cantor at Temple Sinai—someone who leads the congregation in religious chants and prayer. A devout Jew, Ben often wears a yarmulke and a tallit. When Ben is asked to lead the temple in the poem “Yedid Nefesh,” he chokes on the words and runs out of the building. The temple’s motto is Psalm 36:9–“in thy light do we see light.”
Ben instructs students in Hebrew in preparation for their bar and bat mitzvahs (b’nai mitzvah). The class discusses Leviticus 19:17-18, which commands us to “love thy neighbor as thyself.” In Luke 10 fashion, Ben asks his class to ponder who might be included in the term “neighbor.” Carol desires to have her own bat mitzvah. She couldn’t get one when she was a youth due to various familial and political relationships. Ben relays to her that it’ll take 13 months to be taught Hebrew and the meaning behind the section she’ll recite. He tells her that she’ll cover the Kedoshim (Leviticus 19:1-20:27).
Ben panics when he realizes that his hamburger has cheese cooked inside the meat, as observant Jews take the latter part of Exodus 23:19 to mean that they cannot eat dairy and meat at the same time. A license plate references tikkun olam, a concept in Judaism which translates to “world repair” and refers to improving the world.
Ben searches for meaning at a Roman Catholic church. The priest who greets him performs the sign of the cross and asks if Ben was baptized. He likewise tells Ben that “it’s the will of God that we are all saved,” and that our time is meant to be used according to God’s will. When asking if believing in Heaven might “grandfather in” his deceased wife, the priest responds, “I think that’s more of a Mormon thing, but I would have to get back to you on that.” Ben goes on a date with a girl who claims to be Protestant.
A rabbi uses a shofar as a hole for mini golfing. Someone claims that gossip is the greatest sin in Judaism. We hear various Jewish blessings spoken in Hebrew: the Hamotzi blessing for breaking bread, for instance, and a blessing given before lighting Shabbat candles. Likewise, we see devout Jews perform a ritual hand washing. There’s a reference to King Solomon.
We’re told that a grandmother was Episcopalian, and Carla’s husband was Catholic. Carla’s son is a militant atheist who describes organized religion as a waste of time, and he doesn’t want his children “exposed to that kind of thing.” A woman shares her astrological sign. Ben’s mother compares him to a voodoo doll—“When you’re hurting, I’m hurting.”
Ben has two moms, and they try to set Ben up on various dates with women, despite his disinterest. One woman wears a dress which reveals her cleavage. She says she likes like Jewish men because of her preference for circumcised men.
Ben reveals to another woman the dirty voice messages his dead wife would send him, and we listen to one of them, too, which graphically describes oral sex. Ben and the woman kiss, and it’s implied they do more. The woman admits that a book made her aroused.
Someone asks Ben if he is sleeping with a woman. A woman encourages a man to have more confidence by referencing his genitalia.
[Spoiler Warning] The film keeps the exact nature of Ben’s relationship with Carla uncertain for the majority of its runtime. However, Ben eventually confesses his love for Carla, much to the dismay of most others (some due to the two’s problematic age difference, some due to a hope that Ben would start a relationship with someone else).
A man punches Ben in the face, knocking him to the ground. Ben faceplants on a sidewalk, gaining a bloody nose and cut to his forehead. Ben attempts suicide by laying in a street, begging a truck to run him over.
We’re told that a woman died by slipping on ice and suffering a brain bleed. Likewise, we hear of a man who passed from lung cancer. Someone claims a woman groomed a man when he was a child.
The f-word is used nine times, including one instance that is preceded by “mother.” The s-word is used twice. A crude word for male genitalia is used five times. “A–,” “d—n” and “h—” are used, too.
God’s name is used in vain nearly 20 times. Likewise, Jesus’ name is used in vain once.
Ben drinks tea, unaware that it contains a drug, and begins to hallucinate. Ben likewise gets intoxicated. We’re told a woman was an alcoholic while alive. People drink liquor, wine and beer. People smoke cigarettes.
A man tells a joke about an elderly man defecating. Someone describes how much she hated getting her first period. Another man is cruel to his mother. Someone cheats at golf.
I’m not a fan of cringe comedies, and that immediately hurts Between the Temples in my book.
The movie may have some jokes that land, but it just as often (if not more) seeps in awkward mire. To its credit, it makes the film feel authentic…but it also makes it uncomfortable, too.
Based around a religious Jewish community, Between the Temples throws viewers deep into the aspects of such belief: we see deep-rooted communal bonds, strict observance of rules and hear many prayers in Hebrew. But the frequent references to Scripture contrast the content issues which disobey it: namely, some very explicit sexual talk, an LGBT relationship and crude language.
There’s certainly something to be said about the power of an encouraging word, and how God can use someone to come alongside us and pull us out of the dumps. It’s a message that, in and of itself, resonates with many of us.
But the frequent sexual references and language are dumps that you’d probably prefer not jumping into in the first place.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
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